Gov. Dannel P. Malloy on Saturday declared a state of emergency for Connecticut, "due to the severe weather conditions predicted to affect the state" from Hurricane Sandy and an accompanying storm.

Malloy's statement noted National Weather Service forecasts indicate "all or part of Connecticut will be directly affected by a combined tropical and winter super storm, including torrential rainfall, strong winds and potential coastal and inland flooding over a prolonged period of time."

The declaration provides Malloy with emergency powers that include the ability to modify or suspend any state law, regulation or requirement.

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Malloy also now has the ability to order civil preparedness forces into action and designate vehicular and pedestrian routes and movements.

"This storm needs to be taken seriously," Malloy said. "And just as the state is taking preparatory actions, I encourage the public and all of the state's utility companies to do the same."

WTIC Fox 61 Meteorologist Dan Amarante said the latest estimate is the storm will make landfall in southern or central New Jersey sometime Monday evening. But regardless of where it comes ashore, "it's going to be bad," Amarante said.

"This storm is huge, one of the biggest we've ever seen," he said. "The wind field (the size of the hurricane from one edge to the other) is 350 miles in diameter."

The current forecast for Hurricane Sandy is that it will be more windy than wet, at least in terms of rainfall amounts, Amarante said.

Along the immediate shoreline, in places like East Haven and Milford, winds will be at hurricane force, which means 74 mph or greater, Amarante said. Communities farther inland can expect winds of between 50 mph and 60 mph, he said.

Between two inches and four inches of rain should hit the state, Amarante said, compared to the Washington, D.C., area, which is projected to get closer to eight inches.

Storm surge from Long Island Sound -- water that gets pushed ashore by the wind -- could exceed levels that Shoreline communities saw during Tropical Storm Irene, he said.

"The duration of this storm is what will probably make it worse," Amarante said, noting that some predictions have the storm battering the state for as long as 36 hours.

Malloy said it is local officials, not state leaders, who determine whether mandatory evacuations are warranted. But Malloy urged officials in Shoreline communities to complete their evacuations during daylight hours Sunday, before the storm's arrival.

"If you're along the ocean front, you should be listening to our words," Malloy said during a Saturday press conference. "We're talking about severe flooding, perhaps the worst we have seen in 70 years. Folks, this could be bad, really bad."

By late Saturday afternoon, the towns of East Haven and Fairfield had ordered mandatory evacuations of flood-prone areas for today. Evacuation in East Haven is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m., while Fairfield's begins at noon. East Haven Mayor Joseph Maturo Jr. said East Haven High School, at 35 Wheelbarrow Lane, will be opened as a shelter for residents and their pets. It was not immediately clear when the shelter at the school will be opened.

"Residents who relocate and take advantage of the shelter should remember to bring toiletries, bedding and important documents, including identification, with them," Maturo said in a written statement.

Old Saybrook officials Saturday declared a state of emergency and are urging residents to voluntarily evacuate from homes south of Route 1 starting at 8:30 a.m. today. The town's shelter at Old Saybrook Senior High School, at 1111 Boston Post Road, will open at 5 p.m., town officials said.

Orange Assistant Police Chief Anthony Cuozzo said the town is making sand bags available to residenst who are willing to come to at the Orange Highway Department at 308 Lambert Road.

Area residents are preparing. Customers at R.W. Hine hardware store on Maple Avenue in Cheshire cleared shelves of gasoline cans, flashlights and D-size batteries Saturday, said Nick Cifarelli, an assistant manager. The store also took advance orders for 50 power generators that it expects to arrive in town today, Cifarelli said.

"We also sold a lot of propane to people who want to use their gas grills in case their stoves and ovens don't work during the storm," he said.

In order to help communities statewide in dealing with the storm, Malloy said 350 Connecticut National Guard members were doing drills around the state and that their numbers will increase to 400 by the time the storm hits.

A flood watch was declared Saturday in all of Fairfield, New Haven, Middlesex and New London counties for Monday and Tuesday.

With what Malloy termed "extreme" coastal flooding expected by midnight Monday, The United Illuminating Co. Saturday began placing sandbags around seven of its substations. Crews from the Orange-based utility put more than 3,000 sandbags in place, said Michael West, UI's director of communications.

West said UI has 700 full-time workers already on duty, preparing for the storm. When Hurricane Irene struck last year, he said, UI at the peak of that storm had only about 575 workers on duty.

"We're not waiting to see what happens," West said. "It's a different dynamic."

But even with the increased manpower, James Torgerson, president and chief executive officer of UI's corporate parent, UIL Holdings, said company officials expect between 50 percent and 70 percent of the utility's 325,000 customers to be without power as a result of the hurricane.

And William Quinlan, senior vice president for emergency preparedness for the Connecticut Light & Power Co., said in a worst-case scenario, as many as 600,000 of the utility's 1.2 million customers could be left without power. CL&P has about 340 of its own linemen set to respond and 2,000 more are being sought from other states, including some being flown in from utilities on the West Coast.

In all, CL&P will have about 5,000 people working at various levels to respond to storm-related outages.

The New Haven area's only municipal electric utility, in Wallingford, is bringing in six line repair crews and a half-dozen tree trimming crews from outside the area in preparation for the storm, said George Adair, town public utilities director.

In advance of the storm's arrival tonight into early Monday, the University of Hartford and Fairfield University Saturday cancelled classes for Monday and Tuesday. The University of Hartford went a step further and cancelled classes for Wednesday, as well.

Among Connecticut public schools, East Haven, Old Saybrook and Middletown on Saturday announced cancellation of classes for part of next week. Schools in all three districts will be closed Monday and Tuesday.

Middletown Mayor Dan Drew said the city's emergency shelter at Middletown High School, located at 200 LaRosa Lane, is tentatively scheduled to open at noon Monday. The city's Emergency Operations Center is opening this afternoon, he said.

"We will be monitoring the (Connecticut) river, but our biggest concern is downed wires and trees as a consequence of the winds," Drew said.

New Haven Register reporter Jennifer Swift and Jim Salemi of the Middletown Press contributed to this story.